Procedural Heat Distortion (URP)
Procedural local heat distortion shader for Unity URP. Create realistic heat haze, mirage, lava shimmer, and exhaust refraction using simple mesh-based zones and ready-to-use presets.
by TheCoderGuy
Price History +
Procedural Heat Distortion (URP) is a lightweight, production-ready heat haze and refraction shader for Unity’s Universal Render Pipeline.
Easily add realistic heat shimmer above fire, lava, engines, or desert ground using simple mesh-based distortion zones. No complex setup. No custom render passes. Just assign the material and adjust a few parameters.
Perfect for:
• Fire heat haze
• Desert mirage effects
• Lava shimmer
• Engine exhaust distortion
• Environmental refraction
• Cinematic heat waves
The effect works by procedurally distorting the camera color behind a mesh using animated noise. This allows for localized, physically convincing heat shimmer without full-screen post-processing.
Included Preset Materials
The package includes 6 ready-to-use materials:
• Strong – High intensity heat distortion
• Subtle – Light ambient shimmer
• Desert Mirage – Wide, soft ground mirage effect
• Turbulent – Chaotic, aggressive distortion
• Lava Heat – Heavy, rising thermal shimmer
• Exhaust – Focused, directional engine distortion
Simply drag a preset onto a quad or mesh and you’re done.
Key Features
• Local mesh-based heat distortion (not full screen)
• Procedural animated noise (no flipbooks required)
• Vertical fade for realistic rising heat effect
• Adjustable strength, scale, and speed
• Works in both 3D and 2D (via quad or sprite mesh)
• Optimized for URP
• No runtime allocations
• Clean, minimal C# controller
Why This Asset?
Many heat distortion solutions rely on complex renderer features or global post-processing. This asset keeps things simple and modular:
✔ Drop-in ready
✔ Lightweight
✔ Easy to customize
✔ Production-friendly
Ideal for indie developers and small teams who want professional heat shimmer effects without heavy pipeline configuration.
